Sometimes Bad Press is Just Bad Press

April 16, 2012

Still being ‘green’ to the IT/ERP world, I am shocked by certain realities more than my coworkers. This was especially true when a coworker shared a link with me last week about a consulting firm sending people to work in the US illegally. Did you read the same story? The firm is InfoSys. Again, since I am still absorbing the ins and outs of the business this was a firm I had seen on a couple of resumes but never really heard anything about. Probably because we do more staff aug and they do more implementation/project bids.

Either way, the article was about a wistleblower within the company who claims InfoSys is sending consultants to the US on B-1 visas. With these visas they are supposed to be attending training or conventions, etc. but they are NOT allowed to work in the US. From what I understand on the matter, this is the main difference between a B-1 visa and a H1-B visa: the legal ability to work in the United States.

So this company is being accused of sending thousands of consultants to the US and placing them on projects InfoSys bid on but paying them on bank cards from their headquarters in India. So not only are they legally not able to work on these projects, they aren’t even paying taxes on their salary because they are being paid from India.

Again, as naive as I still am, I could not believe this is happening within the industry! And at the end of the story, the author says there was a lawsuit filed against another company for allegedly committing the same crimes. So what about the people on H1-B visas, EAD’s, Green Cards, T9’s and US Citizens who followed the rules? I guess we’ll find out as the investigation continues. What will the punishment be and do you think this will change the way the industry is run?

Have you even seen the story? I never saw it on Yahoo, MSN, Google or any other outlet so if it weren’t for my coworker, we would also be in the dark. Pass this around, share with your friends and coworkers in the industry.